


Now is the Time to Choose! Let's Rewrite and Play Final Fantasy X HD Remaster!

by Falconier111



Category: Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy X
Genre: (screenshots adapt to your screen automatically), Angst, Autism Spectrum, CW: Death, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Let’s play - Freeform, Medieval European History, Narrative Let's Play, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Religion, Video Game Mechanics, Worldbuilding, no really, not major character death but, this is Spira
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-02
Updated: 2021-03-11
Packaged: 2021-03-15 03:02:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 7,524
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29801952
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Falconier111/pseuds/Falconier111
Summary: Tidus is a slightly different man, and his Spira is a slightly different place. An examination of his journey, his findings, and the beauty and horror of the logic his world operates under.Updates Mondays and Thursdays.
Relationships: Tidus/Yuna (Final Fantasy X Series)
Comments: 14
Kudos: 5





	1. Introduction

I’m willing to bet most readers have heard of Video Let’s Plays, which currently drive entire streaming services. Those originally budded off of Screenshot Let’s Plays, which interspersed screenshots with explanations and commentary. NARRATIVE Screenshot Let’s Plays are another offshoot that takes that screenshot/text format and alters the story by switching out dialogue and adding or subtracting elements – in other words, they use screenshots to structure fic. That’s what this is.

Everything after this introduction (not counting notes and comments, obviously) has been taken from a forum that hosts Screenshot Let’s Plays in large numbers; if you notice odd elements or references to people that don’t seem to exist, that’s what’s going on there. I am paying attention to everyone that reads this here, though, and I’m planning on responding to every comment I receive. As with my [last Let’s Play](https://archiveofourown.org/works/28373424/chapters/69519903), while this will be formatted as a Screenshot Let’s Play, its narrative was built from the ground up with AO3’s sensibilities and values in mind (like I knew how I would tag it before I put the first post up). If you’re only interested in the narrative, just skim the bullets in the Master Post to get an idea of the format and you’re good to go; if you want an idea of how this works in practice, I suggest checking out the [LP Archive](https://lparchive.org/), especially [this LP of the Quest for Glory series](https://lparchive.org/Quest-for-Glory-1-5/) and the works of [Didja Redo](https://lparchive.org/author/Didja%20Redo) and [Jerusalem](https://lparchive.org/author/Jerusalem), all of which could stand as fanfics in their own right.

If you have any questions (or spot anything I can improve), please leave a comment and I’ll get right back to you. I hope you enjoy!


	2. Master Post

  
  
**Can you copy-paste the Wikipedia entry to give us some context?**  
“Final Fantasy X is a role-playing video game developed and published by Square as the tenth main entry in the Final Fantasy series. Originally released in 2001 for PlayStation 2, the game was re-released as Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster for PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita in 2013, for PlayStation 4 in 2015, Microsoft Windows in 2016, and for Nintendo Switch and Xbox One in 2019. The game marks the Final Fantasy series transition from entirely pre-rendered backdrops to fully three-dimensional areas (though some areas were still pre-rendered), and is also the first in the series to feature voice acting. Final Fantasy X replaces the Active Time Battle (ATB) system with the "Conditional Turn-Based Battle" (CTB) system, and uses a new leveling system called the "Sphere Grid".  
Set in the fantasy world of Spira, a setting influenced by the South Pacific, Thailand and Japan, the game's story revolves around a group of adventurers and their quest to defeat a rampaging monster known as Sin. The player character is Tidus, a star athlete in the fictional sport of blitzball, who finds himself in Spira after Sin destroyed his home city of Zanarkand. Shortly after arriving to Spira, Tidus joins the summoner Yuna on her pilgrimage to destroy Sin.”  
  
Specifically, we’ll be using the Switch version of:  
  
“Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster is a high-definition remaster of the role-playing video games Final Fantasy X and Final Fantasy X-2, originally developed by Square (now Square Enix) on the PlayStation 2 in the early 2000s. It also features story content previously only found in the International versions, and a new audio drama set a year after the events of X-2. The collection saw graphical and musical revisions and is based on the international versions of both games, making certain content accessible to players outside of Japan for the first time.”  
  
 **Thank you. Does anyone read those?**  
  
You’re welcome and probably.  
  
 **But really, what is this?**  
  
This will be a narrative screenshot Let’s Play with a heavy focus on character expansion and world building in the vein of my [Pokémon Shield LP](https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3945426).  
  
 **Didn’t The Dark Id already do this, and better than you?**

  * Like my [previous LP](https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3945426) (plug plug), this LP is as much a rewrite as a conventional Let’s Play. I’ll be revising the characters, script, plot, and world as I go, though I’ll still be following the core game pretty closely. I’ll also cover gameplay and such (and note the stuff I’ve changed) because this is still an LP, but if you want a purer take on the game the [archives](https://lparchive.org/Final-Fantasy-X-\(by-The-Dark-Id\)/) have you [covered](https://lparchive.org/Final-Fantasy-X/).
  * Occasionally I'll be adding MP4s to represent sequences that just don't translate into screenshots very well. If you can't/don't want to watch them, you won't be missing plot.
  * I noticed my last time doing this that I had an easier time putting out content if I had something vaguely related to ramble about between discussing plot and gameplay, so I’ve got some stuff lined up. See, I have a Masters in Public History (basically explaining history to non-academics), and the era I’ve always been most interested in is the transition between the late Roman Empire and the Middle Ages – and that and Spira frankly have an ASTONISHING amount in common. I’ll be filling some of this space with little explorations of those connections and what they mean both in- and outside of the game; not the whole LP by any means, and you can safely skim over them if you aren’t interested, but I think I can make them entertaining and informative.
  * I’ll be working any posts I spot into the second part of the OP for posterity, no matter the topic. I like to give people the attention they deserve, you know?
  * Yes.



**Wait, I see this “X-2” thing up there. Is that the one where you dress up your party like –**  
  
That was FFX’s direct sequel. It got a huge amount of backlash for a variety of reasons, most of which, looking back, were kind of stupid. I remember it being… All right, not as awful as people said it was, but just not my thing. The story I have in mind doesn’t really fit that game’s plot and I never liked the combat, so barring exceptional circumstances I probably won’t be running through it.  
  
 **Shame. Is there anything else I should know?**

  * Formatting, first of all. All dialogue or text taken from the game will be in plain text, as well as any stage directions that come up during cutscenes and the like. Anything in parentheses is being thought and anything italicized AND in parentheses is being narrated. I’ll be including links to the soundtrack as specific songs come up; FFX’s music is one of its best features and almost every track is worth listening to, but I’ll point out very best ones as we go. I’ll probably be switching between the original and the remastered soundtrack, which polishes and punches up a lot of the old tracks; opinions seem to vary on which one is better, so I’ll try them both out. (Also, there's a watermark at the bottom left of every screenshot, I can't make that go away.)
  * **Tag your spoilers, kids.** This game is 20 years old, I don’t expect or want radio silence, but there are lots of people who never played this game, never finished it, or are only vaguely aware of how everything works out, so be considerate. Since I’ll be revising bits of the plot, some of it won’t even be relevant, but if I haven’t shown it yet, whether it’s plot or gameplay, tag it. Don’t go overboard with spoilers, either; I’m not going to be draconian about this but it’s not worth pushing me.
  * What I WILL be draconian about : **keep it civil and don’t be a creeper!** If people tell you to stop doing something, it’s probably a good idea to do so even if you’re absolutely sure you’re right. I will not hesitate to report people if they can’t listen to clear warnings. I don’t honestly think this’ll be a problem, but it never hurts to lay the groundwork.
  * **This will not be a completionist LP.** You have plenty of other options if you want to see all of this game’s secrets (and there are many). I plan on digging up stuff as I go by and I’ll listen to people if they want me to investigate some part of the game or clarify something I said – and that’ll be the closest thing we have to direct thread participation – but I’m not breaking my back to fulfill those requests. Fair warning. I'll also be looking at some of the content the remaster added, but again, don't count on seeing everything.
  * I have various health issues that force me to use dictation software to write. I am consistently surprised at what the software can do (it recognizes both deviantART and Snorlax?), but it can and does screw up from time to time. If you spot any off grammar, misplaced or missing words, or general linguistic oddities, they probably shouldn’t be there and I would really appreciate it if you could point them out.



  
**Isn’t this a really ambitious project?**   
  



	3. This May Be Our Last Chance

**Update 1: This May Be Our Last Chance**  
  
  
  
This edition of the game(s) contains both games and a bunch of extras. I might touch on one or two of the extras in the future, but not now. It also includes that little watermark at the bottom left of every screenshot. Irritating, definitely, but not the end of the world.  
  
  
  
As we start up a new game, we get the chance to select between two leveling systems and two versions of the soundtrack. I just took the normal leveling system since that’s what I remember, and I will cover it in due time. We already talked about the soundtrack. I have to say, though, that the first track the game breaks out is one of its best, a wistful and moving piano piece that stays with you long after you stop playing. The Final Fantasy X score was the last one that Nobuo Uematsu, the Final Fantasy series’ original composer, headed up before leaving the company, and honestly it’s kind of his swansong. He’s done plenty of good work since, but his work here will always have a special place in my heart.  
  
[Final Fantasy X HD Remaster OST 02. To Zanarkand](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7VLiHbvGoA&list=PLr9gaWkKw5jLTL6Yx6duofdXKz0YyWwai&index=2) (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED LISTENING)  
  
See? There we go.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
HD remaster this may be, but FFX was a PS2 game and it shows. Sometimes the graphics are terrible…  
  
  
  
… But sometimes, they really, really aren’t.  
  
  
  
This may be our last chance.  
  
…  
  
[Final Fantasy X HD Remaster OST 03. The Prelude](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8ENdlYPooI&list=PLr9gaWkKw5jLTL6Yx6duofdXKz0YyWwai&index=3)  
  
  
  
The crowd mills around.  
  
  
  
Suddenly, people start shouting and running out of the frame.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Ah, fuck.  
  
  
  
Fans.  
  
  
  
(Okay. Kids first or girls first?)  
  
  
  
No prob!  
  
  
  
Yes, this game is fully voiced and you get to pick the main character’s name. Oh man, does the script go out of its way to try and work around that.  
  
  
  
Take it easy!  
  
  
  
Yeah, sure, give ‘em here.  
  
  
  
Thanks. Look, I gotta go –  
  
 **Kid** :… two, three –  
  
  
  
Wait, are you – are you actually asking me to give you private lessons? Look, guys, I already have enough people in my classes –  
  
 **???** : It can’t hurt to look.  
  
  
  
… Okay, I’ll see if we have any openings.  
  
 **Dreads Kid** : Promise?  
  
: Promise!  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
…  
  
  
  
  
  
Fuckin’ fans, cost me the tram, now I have to go on foot… Where the hell is my escort?  
  
  
  
… Laugh it up, asshole.  
  
  
  
At this point the game has you run down this walkway while “Zanar” reads some lines in the background, with no explanation as to why we’d be hearing it. As far as I’m aware, the game never does something like this again.  
  
 **Zanar** : I was in a coffee shop, running away from home when I heard the news. Our hero, Jecht, gone. Vanished into thin air! My dad must have been his biggest fan. I knew how sad he’d be. Heck, we all were that day. “Zanar,” I says to myself, “What are you thinking?” I went running straight back home. We sat up talking ’bout Jecht all night. My dad and I never talked so much. Whoa… Didn’t mean to reminisce, folks. Anyway… Ten years later, the Jecht Memorial Cup tournament is today! The two teams that have won through to the finals are…of course, the Abes from A-East, and the Duggles from C-South. I know there’s a lot of people out there today to see the star of the Abes! In just one year, he’s become the team’s number one player! He’s Jecht’s blood, and the new hope of blitzball! What kind of super play will he show us today? Will we see his father’s legendary shot? I don’t think I’m the only one excited here, folks!  
  
’Least they’re still in the pre-match…  
  
  
  
You actually have to physically push your way through all these fans.  
  
  
  
They can’t hold you for long, though.  
  
…  
  
The following sequence is visually chaotic enough that screenshots just aren’t the best way to view it: I recommend [watching it here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4umidcc_8rU). If you can’t/don’t want to, though, I got you covered.  
  
  
  
…  
  
  
  
Showtime again.  
  
[Final Fantasy X HD Remaster OST 05. Otherworld](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOVHdlVnRS0&list=PLr9gaWkKw5jLTL6Yx6duofdXKz0YyWwai&index=5) (RECOMMENDED HEADBANGING)  
  
  
  
  
  
The camera pans back to reveal machinery shaking the arena as the crowd roars.  
  
  
  
More fans stream in through the front gate, adding to the cacophony.  
  
  
  
Tidus steps out of the water and onto a step as a ball of green lightning builds in the arena…  
  
  
  
… Before it explodes, driving the crowd even wilder.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
As the arena fills with water, the camera pans out across the city…  
  
  
  
  
  
… To a grizzled man in a red coat standing on one of its tallest building. He shakes his head ruefully and raises his jug to…  
  
  
  
… Something.  
  
  
  
  
  
Athletes slam into each other in rapid succession. We get an impression of a violent, chaotic underwater sport, like three-dimensional rugby on steroids.  
  
  
  
Several of the opposing team’s players seem to target Tidus, but though they land some solid hits on him, nothing seems to stick.  
  
  
  
  
  
In return, he sends one of them flying out of the playing field’s membrane…  
  
  
  
… Giving them a shit-eating grin through the resealing barrier. The crowd loses its mind.  
  
  
  
The grizzled man steps in a puddle…  
  
  
  
… Only for that water to float away as if gravity reversed itself…  
  
  
  
… Followed by water in the rest of the city.  
  
  
  
The man walks down the street, unconcerned, even as other citizens run by him screaming…  
  
  
  
… And as buildings are consumed by water. They seem to warp in unnatural ways, ways you wouldn’t expect just from water distorting light.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Tidus’s team scores the first goal of the match.  
  
  
  
Tidus swims up, away from the rest of the players, and breaches the surface…  
  
  
  
… Quickly followed by the ball, fired off by one of his teammates past the opposition.  
  
  
  
  
  
He lines up an elegant shot…  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
… As whatever’s within the water appears to fire missiles and hordes of smaller objects…  
  
  
  
  
  
… Straight at the city.  
  
  
  
The missiles strike dozens of buildings, enveloping them in a multicolored glow…  
  
  
  
… And leveling them.  
  
  
  
An alarm sounds as water fills the streets, before it – and chunks of building – float upwards…  
  
  
  
  
  
… Followed by one of the statues outside the arena.  
  
  
  
  
  
As the arena crumbles beneath him, Tidus manages to latch onto a ledge.  
  
  
  
He can’t hold on.  
  
…  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Oh… Fuck me. Wait, is that…  
  
  
  
What are you doing here?  
  
I was waiting for you.  
  
  
  
Shouldn’t you be at the Crimson Blades HQ by – hey!  
  
  
  
We cut to another street, this one dotted with pedestrians running in the opposite direction of Auron, down at the end of the path. We don’t make it all the way up to him before we stumble into another cutscene.  
  
  
  
Kid, get out of the way! I got places to be –  
  
 **???** : See?  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Everyone in the road is frozen in time.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Everything returns to normal.  
  
Okay, guess I’m hallucinating now. Gotta watch out for that – Auron! I – hold up!  
  
There you are. It took you.  
  
Man, what is HAPPENING –  
  
Look.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
We called it “Sin”.


	4. A Dream Of Being Alone

**Update 2: A Dream Of Being Alone**  
  
[Final Fantasy X HD Remaster OST 06. Hurry!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdzFLSIBvCY&list=PLr9gaWkKw5jLTL6Yx6duofdXKz0YyWwai&index=6)  
  
  
  
Something crashes into a nearby building.  
  
  
  
It releases a shower of scales…  
  
  
  
… Which embed themselves in the pavement…  
  
  
  
… And hatch into strange, insectile creatures…  
  
  
  
… That immediately start harassing Tidus, knocking him on his ass.  
  
  
  
I hope you remember how to use it.  
  
Yeah, of course I do!  
  
  
  
  
  
Yes, of course you do.  
  
Oh, come on –  
  
Look alive.  
  
  
  
We have work to do.  
  
  
  
  
  
Welcome to the [Conditional Turn-Based Battle System](https://www.giantbomb.com/conditional-turn-based-battle/3015-2432/), which is the name the developers gave Final Fantasy X’s combat system to make it stand out. We’ll gain access to a lot of wilder stuff later, but the game starts us off small. If you’ve ever played a JRPG before, the action selection and HP/MP bars shouldn’t look too outrageous, but the turn order in the upper right deserves some explanation. FFX, while being turn-based, doesn’t have defined turns. Every character/enemy has a speed value that determines how long they wait between taking their turns, not their place in a turn order, meaning faster characters act more often instead of acting first. At this point, Final Fantasy had been using this system for a while, so they added a mechanic where certain actions modified how long those gaps last; if you took a second to pop a potion, you’d be able to act faster than you would have if you’d just attacked and MUCH faster than you would have if you used a special ability. Squeenix spent a lot of game magazine page space promoting that last sentence. The game introduces you to subsystems as they come up, and I’ll be touching on them when we reach them.  
  
Anyway, we cut through a couple waves of Sinscales before breaking free…  
  
  
  
… And hitting our first miniboss.  
  
  
  
Each party member has an Overdrive, a set of special attacks they can break out after combat’s gone on for a little while with their own customized minigames. I wasn’t able to get any good shots of them in action because I was too busy trying to complete them, but Auron’s Overdrive has you follow a series of button prompts to attack multiple enemies and Tidus’s has you do one of those back-and-forth press-the-button-while-the-icon-is-in-the-highlighted-area things to deal serious damage to one enemy. One solid Auron Overdrive clears out the chaff.  
  
  
  
The only thing this miniboss does is spam Demi, which LOOKS terrifying, since it flat-out halves your HP – except that it rounds the damage it does down, meaning it can’t possibly kill you (not that you’d know that your first time through). It’s also a massive bucket of hit points that takes a WHILE to whittle down, leaving new players tense and uncertain even as they figure out it probably won’t wipe your party.  
  
  
  
Pretty solid design, if an unremarkable fight.  
  
  
  
Hey, don’t you miss it when you had to hunt down places to save, hoping like crazy you didn’t run into something dangerous enough to kill you while the clock ticked down and your mom yelled at you to get a move on? I do not. These things get a bunch of other functions later on, but for now all you can do with them is save your game and get a free full health and mana restore… Which is actually pretty nice, but it would be a lot nicer if they could skip the archaic game design.  
  
  
  
  
  
… Figures.  
  
  
  
  
  
… Pardon?  
  
  
  
A massive wave of scales thuds down in front of and behind the party…  
  
  
  
… Setting the game up to introduce another couple of mechanics. These things are endless and you don’t get any experience for killing them; this fight is another thinly-veiled tutorial.  
  
  
  
Sometimes enemies will take a moment to telegraph a special move – like these guys, whose wings flicker one round before they fire their spines at you for double damage. They go down in one hit, though, so it’s not that big a deal. The second mechanic?  
  
  
  
Sometimes you get contextual commands of various kinds, the simplest of which let you alter the battlefield in some way. These rarely pop up, and when they do, they’re inevitably part of a major plot battle. We smack it several times while holding off of the Sinscales until…  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Its structural integrity compromised, the skyscraper falls over and smashes into the highway. This game uses egregious amounts of motion blur, which makes getting good screenshots of things in motion kind of a crapshoot.  
  
  
  
Don’t have to tell me twice!  
  
  
  
Tidus sprints across the building as it steadily collapses…  
  
  
  
… Before leaping up onto the next piece of highway.  
  
  
  
He doesn’t leap far enough.  
  
(The following sequence is another cutscene that works better [in video form](https://youtu.be/U1pmcGlASiE?t=47), but hey, no judgment.)  
  
[07-This is Your Story-FFX OST](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBuZ_81eaoU&list=PLEE9B8E4750CB344A&index=6)  
  
Auron!  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
This is your story.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Tidus, Auron, and the wreckage of Zanarkand vanish into the sky.  
  
…  
  
HEY!  
  
  
  
(While I was unconscious, I dreamed about a lot of things.)  
  
  
  
(Well, maybe “dreamed” is the wrong word. It was a little too vivid. I think that’s the word? It felt like I was actually there, awake, like I was thinking straight, even though I’m pretty sure what I saw wasn’t real.)  
  
  
  
(I didn’t do much. I thought about a lot of things… like where I was, what I’d got myself into. Then, I started feeling sleepy, and definitely had a dream.)  
  
  
  
(I wanted someone – anyone, beside me… so I didn’t have to feel alone anymore…)  
  
…  
  
[08-Ominous-FFX OST](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDQzTFWZ1G4&list=PLEE9B8E4750CB344A&index=7)  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Where…  
  
  
  
Auron!  
  
  
  
…Welp.  
  
  
  
Here we get a quick introduction to one of the new quality-of-life updates that come with the remaster: whenever you’re out of battle, you can have the game top off your party’s HP using all those spare healing items you have lying around in your inventory, starting from the piddliest items up. Convenient! Probably not as efficient doing it yourself, but it does save time and energy.  
  
  
  
  
  
Wow, look at all this stuff! I must be all the way in the Outskirts now. Awful cold out here, even past how I’m soaking wet. Maybe the ocean gets really, really cold once you get away from the city? I dunno, maybe they covered this in one of the classes at ZMU, I don’t know which one, though. Dammit, I KNEW I should’ve paid attention to that stuff all the way back then and I STILL had to spend all my time with the rest of the frat blitzing and getting drunk oh shit!  
  
  
  
  
  
As Tidus walks over a bridge, it collapses underneath him and sends him plunging into a pool of water…  
  
  
  
[09-Normal Battle-FFX OST](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RsawtJ6Kc8&list=PLEE9B8E4750CB344A&index=8)  
  
… Where several fish monsters attack him. Did you know that Final Fantasy started out as a digitized version of Dungeons & Dragons? That part of its heritage is mostly gone by now, but a few bits remain – including the sahagin, localized versions of a classic (if now somewhat obscure) [intelligent and evil D&D sea monster](https://roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/Sahuagin#content). Unlike them, though, these guys are just chumps that Tidus easily cuts his way through through. After killing two, something rumbles and collapses, breaking us out of the fight. The third sahagin, knowing something we don’t, panics and tries to flee, only for…  
  
  
  
Uh oh.  
  
  
  
FUN SCREENSHOT OF THE DAY:  
  
Ever wonder what Tidus looks like when he’s getting spaghettified?  
  
  
  
  
  
Beautiful.


	5. Fa Gemm Ed?

**Update 3: Fa Gemm Ed?**  
  
  
  
So this thing looks like our first real boss, right? It’s big and intimidating, it happens to be right after a save point, it has that ribcage thing that might be part of a special attack.  
  
  
  
Wrong. Tidus is completely outmatched; it can do roughly 10 times as much damage to him as he can do to it. This fight is a glorified cutscene that eventually cuts itself off.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Tidus slips through the opening with seconds to spare. The boss slams into the surrounding rock and collapses the opening, a shot I couldn’t get because of motion blur .  
  
…  
  
  
  
()  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
_I thought I was going to die in this place._  
  
This next part is a dirt-simple find-the-objects puzzle that’s barely worth talking about. Instead, let’s talk Lyonesse.  
  
  
  
Once upon a time, there was a kingdom called Lyonesse that stretched between what is now the southwestern tip of Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. Its people were devout and industrious, filling the kingdom with 140 magnificent churches; they say that every Sunday Lyonesse’s church bells could be heard all across Cornwall. But at some point, the people of Lyonesse committed a crime.  
  
  
None of the stories say what that crime was; surely it was something beyond what good people could imagine. But this crime offended God so much he smote the entire kingdom and sank it beneath the waves. To this day, some Cornish fishermen will tell you that on clear days they can hear the church bells ringing underwater, or that they still fish up bits of glass and masonry from time to time.  
  
  
  
They say that only one man survived the destruction of that lost kingdom. Some call him Vyvyan and say [he founded one of Cornwall’s oldest and greatest families](https://www.jstor.org/stable/3678480?seq=1). Others name him as Tristan, a knight of King Arthur’s court, who fell in love with his uncle’s wife in a tale that [destroyed all three of them.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tristan_and_Iseult) But the stories agree that sole survivor was the only citizen of that kingdom, spared to carry its lesson to the rest of the world.  
  
  
  
Even though this doesn’t come up in the game, canonically this set of ruins is apparently the last remnant of an ancient city that sunk centuries ago, but this story probably isn’t as relevant to our game as it first seems, since it’s both obscure and largely limited to the southwestern part of Britain. If anything, this place is more likely to be based on Atlantis, and we have little evidence that Plato didn’t make that up on the fly. But it’s a fun little thing to bring up, especially since [there really were towns in the area flooded by abruptly rising sea levels.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyonesse#%22The_Lyonesse_Project%22)  
  
  
  
  
  
This may be worth keeping in mind.  
  
…  
  
  
  
  
  
Something purple flashes by above him.  
  
Man, what would I even eat? Those dead flowers? I could really use some protein –  
  
  
  
That isn’t what I fucking meant!  
  
  
  
This is the Klikk, our first ACTUAL boss. Well, kind of. It isn’t exactly a complicated fight; it just hits you a bunch and you hit it right back. This is a damage race. A damage race you seem destined to lose, until…  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Thank fuck, a salvage crew. Could you guys, uh…  
  
  
  
MUCH appreciated.  
  
  
  
Let’s welcome our second temporary party member, ????! Aside from one of the most sexualized costumes that provide full-body coverage I’ve ever seen, ???? at first blush doesn’t seem to bring much to the table; she’s much more fragile than even Tidus and her attack does piddly damage. But that’s kind of irrelevant.  
  
  
  
Steal does no damage to the enemy but picks up its item, in this case a grenade for some reason. Use lets her use that item.  
  
  
  
It does something like three times as much damage as Tidus’s attack does. Grenades are bonkers. Unlike the vast majority of enemies, Klikk here seems to have an unlimited supply of grenades; I take a moment to farm a bunch of them off it while Tidus twats at it and tosses out the occasional Potion to keep whoever’s at the most risk from dying before I get bored and just explode it to death.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Thanks, I really owe you one –  
  
[13-Underground Activities-FFX OST](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RoPV1ntQOTw&list=PLEE9B8E4750CB344A&index=12)  
  
  
  
  
  
… You’re not a salvage crew, are you.  
  
 **Bandana Salvager(?)** : Y veaht! Eh risyh teckieca!  
  
 **Spiky-Haired Salvager(?)** : Oac! Ed ec cu!  
  
  
  
 **Gas Mask Salvager(?)** : Ed uhmo pa cyva.  
  
  
  
 **????** : Fryd ev ed ec risyh? Fa tu hud sintan.  
  
 **Gas Mask Salvager(?)** : Ed ec cyvan tayt.  
  
 **????** : E vunpet ed! Fa pnehk ed fedr ic. Pacetac, fa lyh ica dra mypun.  
  
Look, I know I’m not in any position to make demands, but I can I ask you a couple questions?  
  
  
  
Uh, hi?  
  
 **????** : Cunno.  
  
What –  
  
She thumps Tidus on the back of the head and he passes out.  
  
…  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Hey, that hurts!  
  
  
  
 **Gas Mask Salvager(?)** : Hu sujehk, rayn?  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
He mimes swimming and makes a series of rhythmic grunts. Tidus stares at him, and he makes a different series of swimming motions while making the same grunts.  
  
I still don’t understand you!  
  
 **Gas Mask Salvager(?)** : Ehcumahla!  
  
He smacks Tidus.  
  
 **????** : Fyed! He said you can stay if you make yourself useful.  
  
  
  
 **Gas Mask Salvager(?)** : Suna ehcumahla!  
  
He smacks Tidus again.  
  
Okay, okay, I’ll help out. Look, what you need?  
  
 **????** : So, there’s a… Yencreb? I don’t know the word in Lucan. There’s something big and valuable on the ocean floor right beneath us that we need to salvage. If you’re scared of machina, you’re going to have to get over it.  
  
What, you mean machines? Of course I’m not afraid of them! Except, you know, I’m not going to stick my hand between gears, but that’s just common sense. If you need me to push buttons, though, I’m your man.  
  
 **????** :… Wow. I’ll take it. We’re heading out now, we’ll get you a rebreather and a wetsuit –  
  
I don’t need those, I got the implants like forever ago.  
  
 **????** : The… What?  
  
I really am in the boonies. I’m good, trust me.  
  
  
  
(Good lord, Tidus )  
  
See ya!  
  
 **????** : …Fryd oui drehg implant ec?  
  
 **Mohawk Salvager(?)** : E ghuf hud, syopa y doba uv sykel?  
  
 **????** : Luhdyld Shinra frah E lyh, syopa ra ghuf.  
  
 **Mohawk Salvager(?)** : Upjeuicmo. E cyo hehado du dah fydan gemm res.  
  
 **????** : E hud drehg cu. Syopa ra ryc cusadrehk fa lyh –  
  
What, are you coming?  
  
 **????** : Yeah, on my way!  
  
(At this point we get an explanation of how leveling up works in this game, but I’m going to wait until we get enough freedom to grind so I can show everything off in more detail.)  
  
[14-Underwater Ruins-FFX OST](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDRAxZh-zDQ&list=PLEE9B8E4750CB344A&index=13)  
  
  
  
  
  
And into the water we go, ignoring how they just let their captive dive into the water. And didn’t take his weapon away. And sent someone who appears to be in command down with an armed prisoner without an escort or means of compelling good behavior. I know there’s nowhere else he can go, but I guess they’re counting on their prisoner being smart, which is always a dicey proposition. Anyway, Spira is a waterlogged setting, expect to see a LOT of swimming. Instead of just swimming near the surface like most games of the time would have you do, you can press B to dive. And dive, and dive, until you finally hit the ruin.  
  
  
  
(Oh hey, I remember reading about this OS in History of Programming! It’s old as balls… Crazy good condition. If I remember right, there’s a workaround like…)  
  
Tidus start banging on console with his fist, which, shockingly, works. He does the same with a couple of other consoles as we had deeper into the ruins.  
  
This whole area has Fiend encounters, both inside and outside of the ruins, but they’re not worth worrying about for the most part. By far the most dangerous Fiend we have to face?  
  
  
  
The camera. Instead of following us around naturally, the camera has fixed viewpoints that track us as we travel from place to place. All movement is relative to the camera, which means every time you enter a new room there’s a good chance you’ll start heading in a completely different direction. In the case of this doorway, the camera flips almost 180°, meaning if you don’t quickly turn around you’ll pop back into the other area. It catches me twice because I’m not very sharp.  
  
  
  
  
  
Eventually, we reach what looks like some kind of reactor, turn it on, and…  
  
  
  
Finally, our first real boss! Tros hits a little harder than the Klikk, but its standard attacks aren’t the issue. Every couple turns it swims back around the reactor, taking it out of range of our weapons (even though ???? can still hit it with grenades); the turn after it charges, laying down damage intense enough that we can’t afford to take it more than a couple times. Fortunately, we have an out.  
  
  
  
Trigger Commands are disappointingly rare, but when they show up they usually end up the centerpiece of a fight. In this case, every time Tros preps its charge we can Defend to prevent more than half the damage it would normally deal, which is absolutely vital. The Klikk might kill you if you refuse to use grenades; Tros will kill you if you don’t fight it with the proper rhythm.  
  
  
  
After a few rounds of this we get a new Trigger Command, Pincer Attack, that lets us flank it and trap it on the other side of the reactor. Without its best attack, it’s toast.  
  
With the boss dead, ???? does a little technical fiddling, and…  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
…  
  
  
  
 **Gas Mask Salvager(?)** : Dra naluntc fana nekrd!  
  
 **Bandana Salvager(?)** : Huf, ruf du tnyk ed ib?  
  
 **Gas Mask Salvager(?)** : Dymg mydan, fa ayd huf.  
  
Great job, team! I’m starving, you guys have a galley down –  
  
  
  
Seriously? After all that?  
  
 **Bandana Salvager(?)** : Fa pnehk oui saym mydan.  
  
Fap neck to you too, asshole. Guess I’ll go towel myself off with the tarp or something…  
  
…  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 **????** : Eat up first, but… We need to talk. You don’t use magic or equipment to breathe underwater, deep sea temperatures don’t faze you until you break the surface, you know how to operate ancient technology and seem surprised we can’t… What ARE you?


	6. And Then, Well, Take A Look

**Update 4: And Then, Well, Take A Look**  
  
I don’t know who you are either? Okay, look, let’s take this from the top.  
  
[Final Fantasy X HD Remaster OST 15. Oi Are al Bhed](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8jTSLgb-yo&list=PLr9gaWkKw5jLTL6Yx6duofdXKz0YyWwai&index=15)  
  
  
  
_(Looking back, this is when I first noticed her accent. I’d been too happy to be able to talk to somebody before. Rikku has a thick accent, lots of humming and low vowels, but she speaks my language like a native.)_  
  
Pleased to meetcha!  
  
Same. So who are you guys?  
  
  
  
  
  
I’d like to think I have to know somebody in order to hate them.  
  
… You really don’t know who we are, huh. Well, who are you?  
  
I’m surprised you don’t recognize me – I’m the star player of the Zanarkand Abes!  
  
…Did you hit your head or something?  
  
No, but you guys did.  
  
Fair. So, what do you mean, “Zanarkand”?  
  
How do you not know what Zanarkand is? Don’t you guys go back to sell stuff there? Though maybe you don’t, since you seem to be pirates. Hey, if you return me safe and sound you can probably get a big ransom!  
  
… Let’s take THIS from the top. Can you tell me what you know about “Zanarkand”?  
  
  
  
_(… About Zanarkand. I talked about the city itself, its history, its people. I talked about my time at school, my implants, the rest of my team, Auron. I complained about my fans. I bragged about how good I was at blitzball. I did that a LOT. But after a while I had to talk about this “Sin”…)_  
  
… And I’m really trying not to think about that. I don’t know…  
  
… You were near Sin.  
  
And?  
  
Being near Sin can screw with your memories. Something about the toxins it lets off leaves people all confused. It gets better after a while.  
  
I’m not confused about anything!  
  
You said you were a blitzball player from Zanarkand!  
  
‘Cause I am!  
  
  
  
  
  
It’s a Yevonite holy place now.  
  
Bullshit, I was there at most two days ago! And what the fuck is a Yevonite?  
  
They’re a bunch of religious weirdos that live on the continent. Zanarkand figures into their myths a lot, it’s a whole thing.  
  
“Holy place” doesn’t describe MY Zanarkand. You HAVE to be talking about something else.  
  
Well… Normally I’d press the point, but… Those implants you mentioned. You say they put Machina in under your skin. Even WE aren’t that good. But when we went diving… We have to wear a specialized armored wetsuit and either use special magic or a rebreather just to survive down there, and off you go in… Whatever that is…  
  
It’s supposed to slow me down underwater. I’m too good otherwise, they can’t compete if I don’t .  
  
Yeah, you go underwater with the most impractical clothing ever and swim around like it’s nothing! And you know how to operate computers – I thought I was going to have to do some hacking, but you literally pounded on the interface until it cried uncle. Whatever you got going on, I seriously doubt you’re just an average castaway. So, let me make you an offer.  
  
Shoot.  
  
Once we pull up the yencreb, we’re probably going to head straight to Home. Come with us. We’ll keep you around and help you look for wherever you came from, and we can consult with you on whatever Machina we dig up.  
  
I don’t have anywhere else I can go. Man, you guys won’t even let me in out of the cold.  
  
I can fix that, give me a moment. Oh, wait.  
  
  
  
Especially not any Yevonites. Zanarkand is where Sin entered the world. They think you have to purify yourself before you even set foot in the ruins. You claim you’re from there, they’ll see it as, like, sacrilege. Keep it to yourself, ‘kay?  
  
Yeah, sure.  
  
Now sit tight, I’ll be right back.  
  
At this point we get a moment to wander around the area before we hit our next cutscene.  
  
  
  
And we can find this! Al Bhed, strictly speaking, isn’t its own language. It’s a cipher of English pronounced phonetically with a cut-down vocabulary and mangled sentence structure to make it comprehensible (proper nouns don’t change). There are 26 Al Bhed Primers scattered across Spira, each of which translates one letter back into its English equivalent whenever it shows up in text; the way they read Al Bhed lines doesn’t change, but the subtitles do. I won’t be fooling around with accommodating all the Primers I’ve found in the text, but I will make note of it when I stumble across them.  
  
Anyway, back to the narrative.  
  
  
  
_(But 1000 years into the future? I didn’t believe it. I couldn’t believe it. )_  
  
Tidus kicks the crates in frustration, only for the ship to start vibrating.  
  
Wh-whoa!  
  
  
  
  
  
The water starts roiling and the ship shakes.  
  
  
  
  
  
A massive pulse of water slams against the side of the ship, making Tidus lose his balance.  
  
  
  
  
  
…  
  
_(I had another one of those dream then.)  
  
  
  
  
  
(This time, it absolutely was a memory. It was after my first game as team captain of the Abes.)  
  
  
  
  
  
(It didn’t go very well. Auron’d been kinda out of my life for a while, focusing on the Crimson Blades, rising through the ranks, you know. So I hadn’t expected him to come back…)_  
  
  
  
…  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Something bounces off his head.  
  
  
  
  
  
A blitzball, huh?  
  
You remember the shot Tidus showed off back in Zanarkand?  
  
[Final Fantasy X HD Remaster OST 17. Blitzball Gamblers](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90LyggNyM8k&list=PLr9gaWkKw5jLTL6Yx6duofdXKz0YyWwai&index=17)  
  
  
  
This time, he pulls it off flawlessly.  
  
  
  
It goes zooming past this guy’s head.  
  
Whoa-ho!  
  
  
  
Two of the people on the shore run off while the rest of them crowd around Tidus after he climbs out of the water.  
  
Yo! Hiya!  
  
You wanna try that move one more time?  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
**Beach People** :   
  
You’re no amateur. Who you play for?  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
So I don’t know where this place is. Or even where I came from.  
  
Sin’s toxin got to you . Happens to the best of us. But you’re still alive.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
…  
  
I’m Wakka, coach and captain of the Besaid Aurochs, brudda.  
  
Tidus. I know that much.  
  
They shake hands.  
  
I should probably take you back to the village. Aurochs! Get back to practicing!  
  
**Aurochs** : Yes sir!  
  
Let’s see if we can get you fixed up, ya?  
  
[Final Fantasy X HD Remaster OST 18. Besaid Island](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2QRRxU04Xs&list=PLr9gaWkKw5jLTL6Yx6duofdXKz0YyWwai&index=18)  
  
Before we head out, we get a brief moment to chat with the blitzball players along the beach. Instead of talking to them, I… Where’s the mp4…  
  


  
[(Source)](https://captainpommy.tumblr.com/post/633970403817160704/any-early-2000s-game-that-includes-swimming-me)  
  
There we go. Yeah, sometimes the animation in this game is good, and sometimes it isn’t. Even today a lot of games struggle with natural movement, and here… Well, they did their best.  
  
  
  
  
  
… The toxin really did get to you, huh. All right, listen up. Long time ago, there were a whole lot of cities in Spira. Big cities with machina–machines–to run ’em. People played all day and let the machina do the work. And then, well, take a look.  
  
  
  
And Zanarkand along with ’em. Yeah, that was about a thousand years ago, just like you said. If you ask me, Sin’s our punishment for letting things get out of hand. What gets me, though… is we gotta suffer, ’cause of what some goofballs did way back when! ‘Course, we must always repent for our sins! That’s important! It’s just that, it’s hard to keep at it sometimes, you know?  
  
  
  
Hey, I’m not saying the team never existed, ya? But you gotta figure a team livin’ in luxury like that’d be pretty soft, eh?  
  
_(I appreciated the fact that Wakka was trying to cheer me up. But at that time, all I could think about was… everything that happened to me–all this–started with Sin. Maybe if I could find Sin one more time, I could go home! For now, I’d just live life until that time came. No more worrying about where, or when, I was. Sure, it was hard not to think of home. But I started to feel better already. A little better…maybe. It did give me an idea, though.)_  
  
You ready to go, bruddah?  
  
Yeah. So, while we go, can you catch me up on blitzball rules? I already know how to play, but… I don’t want to step into an arena and realize I’ve forgotten something important, you know?  
  
Ha! Let’s work our way up from the basics. You know the ball, ya?  
  
Hey!...  
  
…  
  
Before we end the update, let’s take a moment to discuss the interplay of legend and history, and to do that, let’s talk about Devil’s Bridges.  
  
  
[(Source)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devil%27s_Bridge#/media/File:Teufelsbr%C3%BCcke01.jpg)  
  
All across Europe, you can find magnificent stone bridges spanning impossible gaps or broad rivers. Dozens of them are so impressive, in fact, that local legends say the builders could have only constructed them with the help of the devil. Though they vary in context and detail, most of these legends share a broad structure: a local or a community decides they need to cross a gap; the devil appears, offering to strike a bargain that exchanges his architectural assistance for their soul(s); they construct the bridge with his help as they prepare a gambit; when the devil returns for his due, they offer something that technically fulfills the bargain without putting their souls at risk (such as promising the first thing that crosses the bridge to him and sending some animal across); and foiled but still bound by the terms of his agreement, the devil flees. The story concluded, the community can now make use of the sort of bridges that can last for centuries.  
  
Looking at them from a remove, these legends sound like a way of justifying the existence of ancient Roman bridges. Magnificent pieces of architecture? Mysterious origins? Scattered across Western Europe, the Empire’s former territory? Sounds about right, doesn’t it?  
  
Wrong. A couple are old ruined Roman bridges and several of them were built on Roman foundations, but the vast majority were built between 1100 and 1400, right about where the legends place them. We often have the records to prove it, forget the fact that we know these bridges use techniques the Romans never had and that we know the locals did.  
  
When you study oral history with modern techniques, you start to realize that old legends often have a lot more truth to them then you would first assume. They almost always have the details wrong, names changed, situations added or subtracted, historical figures referenced who were never present. But the overall arc and structure of the stories often line up with reality. Hell, these days some archaeologists in South America and consult with local storytellers to find lost cities; they preserve the information well enough that you can follow their directions to find ruins you never thought existed. I recommend [Edward Barnhart](https://www.audible.com/pd/Lost-Worlds-of-South-America-Audiobook/B00DD62E02)’s work if you want to learn more.  
  
Of course, the devil is in the details (); communities often forget details that make them uncomfortable or twist the facts until they get something that barely resembles what actually happened while maintaining the story’s structure. You see this a lot in communities with something to prove, and it’s been extensively studied in the American South with everything from plantation tours that only touch on the lives of a few people who lived there to the Lost Cause Myth. That mixture of fact and fiction is very resilient and hard to dispel or even question, and when people look back to their past as part of their identities they can end up doing monstrous things because they are convinced that how it’s supposed to be.  
  
It’s entirely possible for legends to be both broadly accurate in structure and deeply flawed in the details.  
  
You have no idea how many shots of Rikku’s ass I had to cut out. She’s six-fucking-teen, you creeps. Also, let me know how viewing that mp4 works; if it does, that means I can start including videos recorded on my Switch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, I’m still not sure how I’ll handle MP4s on AO3. I don’t think it hosts them properly. Let me know if you have any ideas!

**Author's Note:**

> Hits make me happy. Kudos make me want to write more. Comments make me write _faster_.
> 
> If you've made it this far, you may be interested to note that you can see the source in progress at https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3958592; I'm currently quite a bit farther ahead there,But if you don't want to venture onto that site you'll be getting the edited version with extra commentary here as time goes on.


End file.
